What a lovely cross ! I use that kind of acrylic paint, yes. Someone told me years ago to start wetting the grout with the paint, mix it in and then finish up with water. It has never affected the grout in strength or anything for me, and I find If I buy the colored grout and dont add the paint I dont like how the grout goes on for me. It makes me wonder if the paint acts like the additive some people use. I also use the darkest shade of paint I can find, and mix my grout on the dry side.

Yes, acrylic is a common polymer for concrete. It can make the texture smoother. It also reduces the amount of water required thereby making the mixture stronger.

Beautiful cross! Let us know how it turns out!

Thanks for the help. I mixed some grout this morning to check the color, and duh me, yes indeed I need a darker color. The color in this bottle is the color I want to end up with. But of course I need to mix with all that white! Silly me.

You might try tinting gray grout to darken your blue..

thanks wacky, i will try that too. i haven't been able to "play" with it the last couple days. hopefully tomorrow. i have some light gray grout that might work well. thanks for the tip.